Reminder: CFP "Hell Studies"

This is just a reminder that the due date for paper proposals for the Societas Daemonetica's 2014 ICMS in Kalamazoo, Michigan is SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH. The full call for papers is below.

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 The Societas Daemonetica is seeking papers for the session “Hell Studies”, which will take place at the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 8-11, 2014, in Kalamazoo, Michigan (USA). The suggested theme for this year's Hell Studies session is “Jailbreaking Hell,” and focuses on its often porous border, those who cross it, by what means, and for what ends. From hauntings to Hell-mouths to the Harrowing, the ranks of those who saw the inside of Hell and returned to Earth to tell about it swelled throughout the Middle Ages. In the Anglo-Saxon period the Devil was at once banished to Hell and simultaneously active in the world. If he was cast down with the angels, how could he then appear in Eden to precipitate the Fall of Man, or in the desert thousands of years later to tempt Christ to sin? How permanent was it meant to be when, in the Gospel of Nicodemus, Christ cast the terrified Devil, bound and gagged, into the mouth of an anthropomorphized Hell – especially in light of the fact that he then immediately freed the pre-Christian fathers in the Harrowing? Even tormented pagans, doomed to an eternity in Hell, sometimes climbed to the surface at night to warn would-be sinners away from their mistakes. Who were their wardens, what were their routes, and how was their return guaranteed? For this year's session, we are asking about the boundaries of Hell itself, as well as those figures who pass through (and around) its gates, in literature, theatre, theology, and art. What can be learned about the medieval people interacting with these representations and ideas, and in addition what can these theories and portrayals tell us about ourselves as their inheritors? As mentioned above, “Jailbreaking Hell” is this year's suggested theme. Submissions need not unnaturally restrict themselves to the theme, but preference may be given to those that comment upon or substantially interact with it. Please send polite proposals of no more than 300 words to Richard Burley at societas.daemonetica@gmail.com by September 15, 2013.


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 Richard Burley North American Co-ordinator Societas Daemonetica

The Act of Killing and Hell

I just wanted to post a quick note here regarding a remarkable and very troubling film which has just been released in the US. The quick IMDB synopsis:

A documentary that challenges former Indonesian death squad leaders to re-enact their real-life mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/

I had the chance to see The Act of Killing at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and as I watched it I kept returning to the idea of Hell. In particular, the film’s use of re-enactment rang a lot of bells in my mind. Like the demonic theatre in the “Vision of Thurkill” the stylized re-imaginings of past atrocities in the film served as both punishment for the guilty and also as an object lesson for the viewer. This punishment, however, only really seems to “work” for one of the murderers at the heart of the film: Anwar Congo. I kept returning in my mind to Origen’s idea of Hell in which the mind is tormented by the conscience, or Eriugena’s “Origenist” assertion that the torment of Hell is really the persistence in the mind of the images of things that have been perversely loved. Anwar Congo’s slow awakening to his own culpability through cinematic re-enactment seemed to me to be a slow realization that he is in fact trapped in a Hell of his own making. The stylized portrayals of his past violence appeared to me as an externalization of the images present in his mind. Central to his final realization is the role of the cinematographer as tormentor. The movie’s director, Joshua Oppenheimer, coxes the guilt out of Anwar as his subject and the viewer can’t help but feel both righteous satisfaction as Anwar crumbles as well as some measure of sympathy. I think that seeing this film has many of the same effects on a modern audience as stories of visionary journeys to the Other World had on a medieval audience. The convergence of atrocity, cinematography, and memory seemed to me to be very medieval.

Links with more information and reactions to the film:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/summer-entertainment/the-killing-lights-camera-genocide/article13311972/

http://gawker.com/everyone-loves-this-documentary-except-the-mass-murdere-806790868

2014 Kalamazoo Call for Papers

Here it is, the call for papers for next year's session. We are all looking forward to the submissions.

Call For Papers: Hell Studies

The Societas Daemonetica is seeking papers for the session “Hell Studies”, which will take place at the 49^th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 8-11, 2014, in Kalamazoo, Michigan (USA).

The suggested theme for this year's Hell Studies session is “Jailbreaking Hell,” and focuses on its often porous border, those who cross it, by what means, and for what ends.

From hauntings to Hell-mouths to the Harrowing, the ranks of those who saw the inside of Hell and returned to Earth to tell about it swelled throughout the Middle Ages. In the Anglo-Saxon period the Devil was at once banished to Hell and simultaneously active in the world. If he was cast down with the angels, how could he then appear in Eden to precipitate the Fall of Man, or in the desert thousands of years later to tempt Christ to sin? How permanent was it meant to be when, in the Gospel of Nicodemus, Christ cast the terrified Devil, bound and gagged, into the mouth of an anthropomorphized Hell – especially in light of the fact that he then immediately freed the pre-Christian fathers in the Harrowing? Even tormented pagans, doomed to an eternity in Hell, sometimes climbed to the surface at night to warn would-be sinners away from their mistakes. Who were their wardens, what were their routes, and how was their return guaranteed?

For this year's session, we are asking about the boundaries of Hell itself, as well as those figures who pass through (and around) its gates, in literature, theatre, theology, and art. What can be learned about the medieval people interacting with these representations and ideas, and in addition what can these theories and portrayals tell us about ourselves as their inheritors?

As mentioned above, “Jailbreaking Hell” is this year's suggested theme. Submissions need not unnaturally restrict themselves to the theme, but preference may be given to those that comment upon or substantially interact with it.

Please send polite proposals of no more than 300 words to Richard Burley at societas.daemonetica@gmail.com by September 15, 2014. Early submissions are appreciated.

Richard Burley

North American Co-ordinator

Societas Daemonetica

Glad to Join the Team

I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself on the blog before we post the CFP for 2014. I'm honoured to be asked to join the organizational team along with Richard and Nicole for the coming year, and I'm looking forward to growing the society and this blog in the months to come. Please check back in for new developments and posts.

2013 Update / Welcome to the team

This year at Kalamazoo, our sponsored session "Encountering Evil in the Medieval World" was a success, and was welcomed by some familiar faces -- both in the panel and in the audience. For next year, we are hoping to return to our roots with "Hell Studies" once again, and are welcoming two-time presenter Michael Barbezat (University of Toronto) to the organizational team. Watch this space for further updates in 2013 and beyond!

Kalamazoo 2012

This year's Societas Daemonetica session at the International Congress on Medieval Studies is simply titled "Hell Studies" and features three excellent papers! Hope to see you there! Details below:


Hell Studies


Sponsor: Societas Daemonetica

Date/Time: Saturday, May 12, 10:00am

Location: Fetzer 2040

Organizer: Richard A. Burley, Boston College

Presider: Nicole E. Ford, Boston University

“I drede we cannot be glad”: Sympathizing with the Rueful Devil: Messenger of Hope and Mirror of Humanity in Medieval and Elizabethan Drama
Brenda Carr, University of Toronto

In a Corporeal Flame: The Development of the Materiality of Hellfire before the Resurrection in Western Eschatology
Michael D. Barbezat, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

The Evolution of Hell as a Home for Satan
Henry Ansgar Kelly, University of California–Los Angeles

Kalamazoo 2011

Our first official Kalamazoo session is tomorrow, Thursday, May 12, at 1:30pm! Come out and hear our speakers! Brenda Carr will be talking about the continuance (or re-emergence?) of medieval devils on the Elizabethan stage; Anna Clarke will be talking about the Old English Soul and Body and what it tells us about conceptions of the afterlife; and Asa Mittman (President of MEARCSTAPA) will be presenting on the angelic fall in the Junius manuscript. It looks to be an interesting session, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Session 76 (Fetzer 2040): Hell Studies


Sponsor: Societas Daemonetica

Organizer: Richard Burley, Boston College

Presider: Nicole E. Ford, Boston University

“ . . . o vile earth, worse for us devils, than hell it self for man!”: Why Helpful 
Devils of Medieval Exempla Re-emerge in Elizabethan Theaters
Brenda Carr, Univ. of Toronto

Re-animating the Flæschord: Resurrection, Regeneration, and Retribution in 
the Old English Soul and Body
Anna Clarke, Univ. of York

Tumbling toward Hell: The Space of Transformation in Junius 11
Asa Simon Mittman, California State Univ.–Chico